LATEST NEWS
Though final projects and exams may mean a few more sleepless nights for members of the class of 2013, commencement is right around the corner--June 17 for undergraduates and June 13 and 14 for MBA/PhD and Master of Accounting students.
Poised to embark on the next phase of their lives, our soon-to-be graduates will bring with them the knowledge and unshakable confidence they've gained from their Lundquist College experiences--both in and out of the classroom.
From the first-place win in the National Sports Foundation Case Cup competition, to the student-powered launches of Civil War Shark Tank and this May's SPRNG conference (not to mention a certain popular line of flavored condiments), to real-world consulting projects too numerous to count--these experiences have empowered our students with the skills and passion to lead, create new business models, advance economic development, and build meaningful and rewarding lives.
We are proud of our students and the countless ways they have expanded their horizons, given back to others, and broadened their notions of what they can attain.
Congratulations to all members of the class of 2013. We celebrate what they have achieved during their time here--and we look eagerly forward to what they will accomplish in the future as they join our network of prestigious and inspiring alumni making the world more prosperous for all.
Charles Lillis, PhD '72, and Gwendolyn Lillis, who helped usher in a new era for the Lundquist College of Business with the opening of the Lillis Business Complex in 2003, were honored with the 2013 Pioneer Award May 10 at the Nines in Portland.
The University of Oregon Pioneer Award honors select individuals of outstanding character who have taken risks that led to great success in business, philanthropy, and community service.
Former Lundquist College associate dean Chris Murray summed up the Lillises succinctly and accurately: “Individually they are impressive, but together, they are unstoppable.”
Those who have had the pleasure of working with the pair tend to describe Chuck and Gwen as accessible, hard working, and down to earth.
"Their whole demeanor is so humble and giving," said Ron Sauer '80, who serves on the college's Board of Advisors with Gwen. "They are so natural together, so smart, and so thoughtful. They believe in what they are doing and have a great balance. As intelligent and successful as they are, they remain grounded and are both amazing listeners. That's who they are and that’s how they got where they are today. They are passionate about being Ducks."
Added University of Oregon Provost Jim Bean: "The Lillises are unique in their understanding of the UO community. Both Gwen and Chuck have significant academic experience, and taught here at Oregon. Their advice is more than donor advice; it's from people who understand the academy. They have an increasing impact – and it's not done yet."
Gwen and Chuck accepted the award together onstage. Gwen Lillis said the university may encounter challenges along the way, but "We hope to be part of the solution, and we are forever Ducks."
Proceeds from the Pioneer Award Gala benefit the Presidential Scholarship Endowment at the University of Oregon. Some scholarship recipients were in attendance and one, Sarah Rosencrans, described to the crowd her family's Oregon journey and the scholarship's positive impact.
View a video tribute to Chuck and Gwen Lillis.
Business professional was the dress code of the evening at the annual meeting of the University of Oregon Investment Group (UOIG) this May.
Established in the late 1990s, UOIG offers its members the chance to manage roughly $1 million in live money across three differently structured portfolios.
"They are mimicking a money management operation. The annual meeting is an opportunity for members to produce an annual report, have a meeting for stakeholders, and coordinate an annual event," said associate professor of finance Ro Gutierrez, who served as the group's advisor during the past academic year.
Presentations from the group's three portfolio managers kicked off the evening. Cameron Patrick '13--manager of the DADCO Portfolio--had plenty to celebrate. He spent the year overseeing a group of investments that are part of a multiuniversity competition sponsored each year by D. A. Davidson & Company. Thanks to a timely investment in Tesla Motors, the portfolio had shot up in value, putting the UO group well ahead of its rivals. Final results are expected in early September.
Next, two student analysts--Nicholas Hubert and Michael Saeks--presented their research on a possible investment, just as members do each week at UOIG's Friday morning meetings. In this case, the company in question was Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams beers, and the recommendation was "hold."
With business finished--it was time to celebrate. As the crowd of students, visiting UOIG alums, and guests enjoyed a festive dinner in the Jubitz Atrium of the Lillis Business Complex, the group's incoming officers recognized the previous year's managers with speeches and gifts.
Find out more about UOIG.
With a pair of Teslas on display outside the University of Oregon White Stag Block and a stellar lineup of speakers and panelists within, the debut of the student-organized SPRNG (Sustainable Practices Raising Net Growth) conference made quite a splash this May.
The brainchild of undergraduates Garrett Dunlavey and Ryan Seo, the event was run by members of UO Net Impact Undergraduate. (Dunleavy and Seo founded this offshoot of the Lundquist College's graduate-student-focused Net Impact chapter in early 2012.)
"SPRNG’s initial goal is to make significant progress and collaboration among various industries and sectors. This is so we can create a much larger impact towards our goal of fueling change with the power of business," Seo said in an article in Sustainable Business Oregon.
The event kicked off with a speech from UO president emeritus Dave Frohnmayer. Next, Lundquist College Career Service's MBA Advisor Sally Bell moderated a panel discussion on sustainable growth strategies and philosophies.
Wrapping up the event was keynote speaker Mark Edlen '75, MBA '76, who shared insights drawn from his experience as CEO and cofounder of Gerding Edlen, one of the top sustainable properties developers in the United States.
And what about those two Teslas? They were part of an in-kind sponsorship provided by the green motor company. "A week or so before the event, I received an email from the Tesla location in Washington Square. They had heard of the conference and were very interested in being a part of it," recalled Dunlavey.
A great start for Dunlavey and Seo, whose goal is for the conference to become an annual event.
See UO Net Impact Undergraduate vice president of marketing Olya Surits's account of the conference, view a photo gallery, and read about test-driving those Teslas--all in Sustainable Business Oregon.
Industrial Strength Recycling
Waste material--it may not seem glamorous, but finding sustainable ways to deal with it is one of the century's most pressing issues.
Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) is one company that has taken on this challenge. Located here in Eugene, Oregon, BHS provides innovative turnkey systems for large-scale recycling of industrial and municipal waste.
At the UO's SPRNG conference in Portland this May, UO president emeritus Dave Frohnmayer described the company as "one to watch."
In the past year, students from several Lundquist College programs have had a chance to get an inside look at BHS and the work it does.
The company has hosted two site visits: one for Lundquist College Honors Program students in November and another for MBA and Master of Accounting students in May.
Company president Steve Miller was also a Center for Sustainable Business Practices guest speaker, and manager Richard Sweet was the featured speaker at a meeting of the Women in Business Club.
Further strengthening the connection between the two organizations is the presence of many Ducks on the BHS staff. These include marketing coordinator Peter Raschio, MBA '11, and technical sales representative JJ O'Connell, MBA '11.
"Having Bulk Handling Systems right in our backyard gives our students an unparalleled opportunity to see a paradigm-shifting green business at work," said Laura Strohm, program manager for the college's Center for Sustainable Business Practices. "Their cutting-edge waste management and resource recovery systems go to customers around the world, turning the trash problem into economic and environmental solutions for cities everywhere."
Three alumni from the Oregon Executive MBA program were honored at the Portland Business Journal’s annual CFO Awards luncheon on May 16 at the Governor Hotel in Portland.
Karen Shepard of St. Charles Health Systems; Doug Shafer of iovation, Inc.; and Mick Reynolds of Pacific Continental Bank were all finalists. Shepard and Shafer took top honors in the nonprofit and medium companies categories, respectively.
The annual awards recognize Portland-area business people for their financial acumen.
The Oregon Executive MBA is the Lundquist College of Business's Portland division. The twenty-month program provides accomplished executives with the opportunity to hone their skills by working with faculty with real-world expertise. They are also able to leverage the University of Oregon’s business research and network.
Students typically include midcareer executives positioning for advancement as well as high-potential managers tapped by their organizations as future leaders. The curriculum is geared to develop the crossdisciplinary expertise needed to approach business challenges, threats, and opportunities.
Find out more about the
Oregon Executive MBA program.
It's no secret that having one or more summer internships on your résumé can give you an edge in the job market. But landing a spot with a prestigious company can take as much work as getting a full-time job. Lundquist College students have a leg up on the search process, thanks to the resources of the school's Career Services office.
"Students sometimes start out finding these big-name companies intimidating. But if they're willing to work hard and make the most of what our office has to offer, our students usually find that even the most competitive organizations are within their reach," said assistant director of career advising Jessica Best.
International student Jumpei Iiyama '14 hails from Tokyo, Japan, and aims for a career in hedge funds. He will get several steps closer to his ultimate goal this summer when he heads to his hometown to work as a sales and analytics intern at Bloomberg.
Practice interviews with Career Services' advisors helped Iiyama think on his feet, even when presented with unusual questions during the course of three interviews.
"For one of the interviews, I actually sang an Indian song that I had recently learned in my nonwestern music class," Iiyama recalled.
Honors business student Spencer Petersen '14 will spend her summer in Mountain View, California, working for Google helping clients get the most out of the company's marketing services.
Coaching from Career Services enabled Petersen to keep her cool during her initial interview with Google, which consisted of back-to-back phone conversations with two different interviewers. "Luckily, they give you about five minutes between interviews to regain your composure," recalled Petersen.
For Lesley Grant '14, the dream has always been Nike. She'll start living that dream this summer when she interns with the company's emerging markets department doing retail brand presentation.
Grant worked closely with Career Services' staff on each aspect of the internship search process--from her résumé and cover letter, through practice interviews, all the way to writing thank-you notes. "I’m pretty sure everyone there knows me by name now," said Grant.
Get more details on these students' internship searches in blog posts from Iiyama, Petersen, and Grant.
Sean Thorne is off to a flying start. It was just last summer that the University of Oregon junior came up with the idea for Hallspot--a social media service geared exclusively to college students.
Less than a year later, Thorne's brainstorm has become a reality. Hallspot raised $150,000 from a private angel investor and picked up another $6,300 in cash and prizes when Thorne's presentation won the top spot for early stage companies at the Willamette Angel Conference (WAC) this May.
Thorne has assembled an impressive group of advisors--including Nathan Lillegard, program director for the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.
"When I first reached out to Nathan, Hallspot was only a team of four," said Thorne, an economics major who is minoring in business. "I sat down with him and things just clicked. I felt like he genuinely wanted to help me."
The rapidly expanding company's staff--currently fifteen employees--works in office space in downtown Eugene and has plans to move into a new suite in the Broadway Commerce Building later this June.
Around 4,800 UO students preregistered for the service, which is scheduled to launch in Eugene this September and will roll out to Oregon State University later in the fall. Next up will be the Pac-12 universities--with schools throughout the United States to follow.
Be sure to keep an eye on this startup following in the footsteps of Facebook. In the meantime, find out more about Hallspot and read about its WAC win in The Register-Guard.
MAY 2013
And the winner is… a tie. Two teams shared the top spot this April in the Lundquist College's world-renowned investment competition, the New Venture Championship (NVC).
The victors--AGcerez, from Thailand's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, and Awair, from Stanford University--bested thirteen other teams and left Portland, Oregon, with prize money of $17,500 each.
AGcerez's venture centers on a syrup extracted from the longan fruit that stimulates the growth of beneficial bacteria in the large intestine. The Awair team--which also won the elevator pitch award--presented the Wyshbone, a device that delivers local anesthetic to the throats of patients using breathing tubes.
Sponsored by the college's Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) and now in its twenty-second year, NVC attracts teams of enterprising graduate students from around the world. This year saw participants from Thailand, and Hong Kong--as well as from universities throughout the United States.
The 2013 contest took place in a new location--the University of Oregon White Stag Block in downtown Portland--and boasted a newly dedicated trophy, the Randy Swangard Elevator Pitch Award. In his former role as LCE managing director, Swangard was intrumental in bringing NVC the recognition and stature it enjoys today.
Visit the NVC website, see the complete list of winners, and view photos from the event on Facebook.
What's it like to take your seat at the investors' table and evaluate business plans from more than thirty early-stage and seed businesses?
Four first-year Oregon MBA students--Whitney Alexander, Derek Schloss, Kyle Spradling, and Ryan Strub--got the chance to find out, when they spent their winter and spring terms working alongside the Willamette Angel Conference's 2013 investors' group.
To gain a thorough grounding in angel investing basics, the students attended a series of three training sessions in January.
Fast forward to early March, when the first due diligence meeting kicked off: "From the first half-hour, I was already blown away," recalled Spradling, who ended up leading one of the due diligence teams. "Just being there with the investors and seeing what they were doing--it was incredible," he said.
The Oregon MBA volunteers will be able to see the results of their work on May 9, when five finalists present their plans at this year's conference.
"If you're planning to enter investment competitions and eventually start your own business, gaining this kind of perspective is truly invaluable," said Alexander.
Nearly $40 million in revenue and more than 270 jobs--that's what University of Oregon-affiliated startups brought to the state in the most recent fiscal year. Good as these numbers are, the trend they represent is even better.
In just one year, revenue from these companies grew 11.1 percent, while the number of jobs they provided increased by 8.3 percent. (The UO's "return on innovation" also rose to 8.9 percent.)
Since an average of two UO-backed startups are launched each year, this growth is likely to stay steady--or even spike, if the Oregon State Legislature approves recently proposed plans for the Willamette Valley's Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network.
Here at the Lundquist College, we are proud of our connections with companies like Cascade Prodrug, QE Chemicals, Perpetua Power Source Technologies, and Floragenex. Looking forward, we are confident that our Business Innovation Institute will provide an ideal springboard for many more ventures like these.
Nimble startups and smart technology are truly the wave of the future, UO Vice President of Research and Innovation Kimberly Andrews Espy observed in a recent article in Open for Business, the magazine of the Eugene Chamber of Commerce.
"Small, innovative technology companies hold great promise for Oregon," said Espy. "They tend to grow quickly and create stable, high-wage jobs that attract and keep talent in the state, and on a broader scale, create the products that are changing our world."
This April, Brice Helm '13 entered his first-ever case competition. He walked away with the top prize: a full-tuition scholarship to the Master's of Science in Management program at Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands.
Working with teammates Kevin Cabori '13 and Noelle Salter '13, Helm created a strategy for promoting a brand of sustainably produced eggs. The team's ultimate goal was to create a new product category in an existing market.
"I made a deal with Yuting Hu, the leader of one of the other two teams, that whoever won the competition would only buy this brand of eggs, once they got to the Netherlands," Helm recalled.
The competition's judges included André Nijhof, director of the Master's of Science in Management program at Nyenrode, and Albert van Servellen '67, MBA '70, an alumnus of both Nyenrode and the University of Oregon.
"Launching the case competition felt like stepping into a long standing tradition," said Nijhof. "In the past, more then two-hundred students studied both at the UO and Nyenrode. We want to revive that tradition by making this case competition an annual event."
For competition-winner Helm--who grew up in Grant's Pass, Oregon, and has worked part-time in the college's Career Services office for the past two years--the summer is shaping up to be a busy one.
Helm graduates this June and heads to Nyenrode in August to begin his studies. In between those events is another significant milestone--Helm will marry his high-school sweetheart Kelsey Lamont, who is currently a psychology major at Oregon State University and will join him in the Netherlands.
Bon voyage and goede reis, Brice and Kelsey.
Swimming with Sharks
Take the most notorious rivalry in the state of Oregon. Blend thoroughly with one of network television's top reality shows. What do you get? A brilliant mashup with an irresistible name: Civil War Shark Tank.
Dreamed up this year by members of the Lundquist College's Entrepreneurship Club, the competition is designed to foster connection between aspiring entrepreneurs at both universities. The club's past president, Joel Kelly '13 noted that he hopes the contest will become a signature event for the club, comparable to the Women in Business Club's annual gala.
Avamere Professor of Practice Michael Crooke—former CEO of Patagonia and Yakima, among other companies—recalled the passion of his early days in startups in his fast-paced keynote.
Next, aspiring entrepreneurs behind six different ventures--three from each school, of course--came before the judges' panel to present and defend their business plans. While the judges deliberated, the audience and participants enjoyed a catered banquet in the Jubitz Atrium.
In the end, the Beavers won most of the evening. Multicopter Northwest (see video) and Cycle Jacket--both from Oregon State University--won first and second place, respectively. Action Sports Complex from the UO took third.
With an audience of nearly one hundred (on an exceptionally balmy Friday evening, no less), the competition more than met its organizers ambitions.
"It was so great to meet entrepreneurs from OSU, and the event really helped kickstart the partnership between the two programs," said Mitchell Van Dyke '13, former Entrepreneurship Club vice president and one of the driving forces behind the competition. "Both programs are very excited to move forward with this newfound collaboration. Our goal is to alternate campuses for the event each year, with next year being hosted by OSU."
On a frosty morning in mid-April, around eighty multicultural Ducks boarded two busses and headed north to Portland for the UO Diversity Career Symposium, a day of workshops and networking at the Multnomah Athletic Club.
Nearly half of the students on the bus came from the Lundquist College's Building Business Leaders cohort and its affiliate, the CEO Network. Both initiatives are designed to foster professional success for students of color.
An inspiring talk from former University of Oregon basketball player and author of Water the Bamboo Greg Bell capped off a day jam-packed with workshops and panel discussions. Next, it was time to head upstairs for the career fair, where representatives from more than forty companies and organizations stood ready to engage with students.
"Employers recognize our students' academic achievements and the crucial perspective they bring to the table," said Ronnie Casanova, Lundquist College Career Services' Portland-based assistant director of employer development.
The driving force behind the event was the Multicultural Career Alliance (MCA), a multidisciplinary collective that includes the UO's Career Center, Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence, and the Office of the Dean of Students, as well the Lundquist College of Business.
Though MCA has organized career-focused days since 2001, this year's event was notable for its scale and the variety of opportunities it provided.
"Our goal was to engage more students with more employers in more valuable interactions," said Tayah Butler, the undergraduate advisor who heads up the Lundquist College's Building Business Leaders initiative. "We pushed the throttle on all three pedals."
Download the event program and get a taste of the excitement in the video above.
They called themselves the Dream Team. Accounting majors Lindsay Wickman '13, Taylor Gentry '13, Rachel Bruce '14, and Mitchell Van Dyke '13 headed north on Interstate 5 to compete against teams from seven other universities in the KPMG Financial Accounting Case Competition at Seattle University this April.
The pace was fast, to say the least. At 8:30 a.m., the teams received the case--a multilayered puzzler concerning Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and its recent battery problems.
They had just three hours to determine how Boeing should have disclosed the Dreamliner's issues and what the implication might be for the company's financial reporting.
"It's a very high pressure environment. You have to work together and you have to be efficient," said Professor Steve Matsunaga, who organized the team and accompanied it to the event.
The Dream Team rose to the challenge, turning around a sharp analysis and a polished presentation. The judges--all drawn from KPMG's Seattle office--responded in kind, awarding the top prize to the Lundquist College students. This is the first win for a UO team in the four years our students have entered the contest.
"The judges mentioned that confidence and engaging with the audience were keys in determining the winner, and I think that doing so many presentations in business classes was excellent practice," said Wickman.
"We won a $3,000 cash prize, shared among the four of us. And we got the bragging rights--not an insignificant prize, if you ask me," said Bruce.
At the University of Oregon's fourth annual International Projects Fair, two Lundquist College undergraduates showed how business smarts have the power to make the world a better place.
Accounting major Patrick Wrobel '13 spent fall term getting to know Cape Town, South Africa, through homestays with four different families--two black, one white, and one Muslim.
His research project on the ways food-oriented startups can invigorate entire communities was inspired by an aspiring twenty-year-old restaurateur--also named Patrick--whom he met during his first homestay.
"When I first met him, he wouldn't stop talking about Gordon Ramsey," recalled Wrobel. "Patrick's plan was to open a restaurant that would serve Xhosa, Italian, and English food. He wanted to create a space where the three cultures could interact, to break down racial prejudices. It was incredibly inspiring."
Orion Falvey '13 spent winter term interning with a Cambodian-run nongovernmental organization based in Phnom Penh. Using skills he first developed through a real-world consulting project in senior instructor of business Anne Forrestel's Leadership in Action course, Falvey worked with the group's management to determine which of its programs were most effective.
"I got to see how foreign aid is evolving. Instead of just giving away money, food, and clothes, the next phase is building sustainable businesses, which can really move these villages out of poverty," said Falvey.
Social entrepreneurship is a longtime passion for Falvey. Last fall, he was one of two students whose plan for mobile health care in rural Oregon won second place in the state's first social entrepreneurship competition.
At the Lundquist College, global thinking and innovative entrepreneurship are central to our mission. "It is immensely satisfying for me to see our students move out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves to find new applications for the skills they learn here," said assistant dean of undergraduate programs Collette Niland.
How things have changed in just twenty years. When the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center (WSMC) was founded in 1993, the web was in its infancy. These days, nearly the entire world is awash in a nonstop flow of digital information.
For those whose business is growing and defining athletes' public identities, this communication revolution offers opportunities and challenges that could hardly be imagined two decades ago.
Finding the best ways to harness these powerful new tools was the central theme of this year's Women in Sports Business Symposium. Titled "Branding Athletes in a Digital Age," the event brought a panel of five industry experts to the UO White Stag Block in Portland, Oregon.
What's the biggest challenge of this new environment? For attendee Elizabeth Brock, MBA '14, it's the fact the digital media never really goes away.
"We are no longer just branding athletes for today and tomorrow, we are branding them for life," said Brock. "Anything we say and do will be added to a cumulative brand portfolio that will shape the image and perception of an athlete."
Download the event program and view video interviews with WSMC managing director Paul Swangard, senior instructor Whitney Wagoner, and Jess Zutz, MBA '13, a codirector of this year's symposium.
APRIL 2013
Twenty years ago this April, an audacious new idea became a reality: the Lundquist College launched the world's first sports business program housed within a college of business.
Fast-forward two decades, and the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center has more than fulfilled its early promise.
"Bringing together for the first time a team of strong researchers, top educators, and industry expertise, the Warsaw Center quickly rose to world-class status faster than our football team changes uniforms," said Paul Swangard, the center's managing director. "In creating a category of education," he noted, "the center has become a lasting legacy for Jim Warsaw's vision and a point of pride for the college--just as athletics has become a point of pride for the larger university."
Here at the University of Oregon, student interest in the center's programs and courses is at an all-time high. More than 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students have enrolled in sports business courses during the past three years.
Beyond the Eugene campus, the Warsaw Center's reputation extends far and wide. In 2012 alone, faculty members have been featured in or on ABC's Nightline, ESPN's Outside the Lines, and CNBC's Money Talks, as well as in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek. The center's renown draws a wide array of industry-savvy speakers to the Eugene campus each year--and opens doors around the nation and abroad for current students and alums alike.
As it enters its third decade, the Warsaw Center continues to take on new challenges. A recently forged partnership with the Singapore Sports Council has already expanded the college's global reach while opening up new opportunities for our students. And plans are already afoot to launch a new program to meet the growing needs of the sports products sector.
Join in the celebration by helping us prepare for the next twenty years.
It can take a lot to bring a great idea to the marketplace. That's why we at the Lundquist College of Business are so excited about the Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN), a bold new proposal to foster entrepreneurial activity in the south Willamette Valley.
Developed by a coalition of university and government officials along with area entrepreneurs, RAIN is currently under consideration by the Oregon State Legislature.
If funded, RAIN will create two business accelerator facilities--one in Eugene and another in Corvallis--to house Willamette Valley startup ventures. Each site will include a combination of laboratories, offices, and shared spaces, such as conference and training rooms.
RAIN entrepreneurs based in the Eugene location will work closely with the Lundquist College's Business Innovation Institute. Faculty, students, and a network of established entrepreneurs associated with the institute will provide expertise and connections along with hands-on assistance developing business plans and strategic planning projects for RAIN startups.
"RAIN looks to grow competitive industry in Oregon through innovation and entrepreneurship--and so does the Business Innovation Institute," said the institute's managing director John Hull. "Contributing to a project of this scope is a great honor. RAIN will provide our students with unparalleled opportunities for hands-on involvement in all aspects of the startup process."
Read about the testimony UO Vice President for Research and Innovation Kimberly Andrews Espy offered to the Oregon Senate in March and see UO President Michael Gottfredson's forecast for RAIN in an article on the state's economy in The Register-Guard.
Captain Austin Luher, MBA '14, knows what it means to lead. He commanded 188 soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, led a platoon in Basra, Iraq, and ran operations for a 1,000-soldier battalion in South Korea.
Luher's next assignment will be at his undergraduate alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point. Starting in fall 2014, he will spend three years serving as the congressional liaison officer for the school's athletic program, matching recruited athletes with sponsors from the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
To best prepare Luher for this position, the Army offered to cover the full cost of an MBA program anywhere in the United States.
Luher chose the Oregon MBA. "I knew I wanted to be in the Pacific Northwest. The UO was the only program that offered anything like the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center," said Luher.
For Luher, who is technically still on active duty in the United States Army, coming back to school has been eye opening. What's been the biggest change? "The technology is drastically different," said Luher. "The amount of technology here is great. It allows us to accomplish everything we need to."
The Oregon MBA has had a successful track record of attracting students from the military. Five students currently enrolled in the Oregon MBA are active-duty personnel or veterans.
Lundquist College Master of Accounting (MAcc) students weren't the only ones to benefit from the program's recent visit to Nyenrode Business University.
Sean Oliver '09, a senior audit associate at Grant Thornton, was one of several young professionals who joined the group for their study tour. (Others accompanying the MAccs were Molly Dean, audit manager at Moss Adams, and Allison Pan, tax associate at Ernst & Young.)
For Oliver, the tour offered an illuminating view of accounting practices outside of the United States and provided insights to share with his colleagues at Grant Thornton.
"Prior to this trip, I hadn’t gained much exposure to sustainability reporting as it is not as prominent in the industries I serve in the United States. I was fascinated by the difference in the values placed on reporting by users of financial information," recalled Oliver.
Though Oliver had spent a term studying in the Netherlands as an undergraduate, the MAcc tour provided a level of entrée that was unlike anything he had previously experienced. "I was impressed with the program coordinators’ efforts to put together a schedule with such high-profile individuals as well as the generosity of these professionals to spend the time with us," said Oliver.
The advantage our MAcc students gained from their ten days in the Netherlands was self-evident to Oliver. "This experience enabled the students to gain confidence in their ability to succeed in the global business world while increasing their knowledge about the accounting profession," he said.
Read the full interview with Oliver on the UO Business Blog.
Sixteen students from the Lundquist College honors program spent their spring break at the end of March in Costa Rica, working side by side with the people of El Higueron to build a basketball court for the rural community.
The project was facilitated through Courts for Kids, the Pacific Northwest-based nonprofit that sends teams of volunteers to build sports courts for economically disadvantaged communities all over the world.
To raise money for the trip, the students held a raffle and reached out to local businesses for sponsorship. Additional funds became available when Courts for Kids connected the students with a sponsor that matched the dollars they raised on their own.
This is the second year in a row that honors program students have gone abroad on a service project. Could this be the start of an annual tradition? Trip organizer Brigette Auld '13 certainly hopes so. "I think trip will be a true success if just one of the participants comes home and says 'Okay, I want to start planning a trip for next year. Let's get going!'" said Auld.
Download details about the project in El Higueron and view a video about last year's Guatemala study tour.
The accidental career--that's what some who have found success in banking call the profession.
To help students chart a more direct path to the field, Lundquist College Career Services teamed with the college's Finance and Securities Analysis Center and the University of Oregon Department of Economics to hold an event in early March titled "Careers in Banking."
A five-speaker panel kicked off the event. "The panel was designed very strategically. It was meant to show the variety of banking environments--big, small, regional, and so forth. And we also designed it so that some of the panelists held senior positions and others were newer to their careers," said Career Services director James Chang. "The idea was to help people see the different places you could go and the different things you could do."
Next stop was the Lillis atrium, for a bank-centric career expo. More than a hundred students mingled and networked with representatives from eleven financial organizations.
"Events like this highlight the enthusiasm local and regional employers have for the talents of our students, and the motivated students have stepped right up to grab internships and jobs for this next year," said finance instructor Jon Moulton, who teaches the college's commercial banking course and helped organize the event.
Read more about the event on the Lundquist College Career Services Highlighter blog.
For Justin Donaca '10, landing a position at Octagon was always the dream. It just took some persistence--and a single-minded focus--to get there.
Donaca first learned about the global sports and entertainment marketing powerhouse when he met some of the agency's representatives while volunteering to help out with ESPN College GameDay for the 2009 Ducks v. USC game.
Fresh out of school, Donaca started work as a technical recruiter at an information technology staffing firm. But he just couldn't shake his passion for a career in sports marketing. "I always had Octagon in the back of my mind," recalled Donaca.
Seeking advice, Donaca got back in touch with James Chang, director of career services at the Lundquist College. When Chang suggested he apply for a newly available contract position at Octagon, Donaca jumped at the chance, and he was hired as one of thirty-six event coordinators for last summer's BMW Drive for Team USA event.
The next four months saw Donaca driving BMW 3 Series and other luxury vehicles in nineteen states throughout the eastern United States, as part of an Octagon-run promotion creating awareness of BMW's new line.
Two more contract positions later, and Donaca was invited to apply for a full-time position at Octagon. This January he started work at the firm and is now the account executive for PPL EnergyPlus, the official sponsor of the Philadelphia Union, that city's Major League Soccer team.
Looks like Donaca is well on his way to his dream career.
Each year, undergraduates in senior instructor of management Beth Hjelm's business strategy and planning course team up to take on real-life consulting projects for real-world clients.
For business students, this capstone course represents the culmination of their undergraduate experience, bringing together everything they've learned in their time here and preparing them to go out and succeed in the professional world.
This year, Hjelm assigned a total of three teams to focus on three distinct issues facing the Springfield Golf Club--known until recently as the Springfield Country Club.
Tasked to investigate the club's member retention, one team teed off with an ambitious, multipronged plan. They surveyed 1,500 golfers, conducted an in-depth focus group, and visited the course themselves as "mystery golfers."
"Mystery golfing gave us real insight into the project and put passion behind the recommendations we made," said team member Hayley Brown '13.
Another team looked into whether the club would benefit from dynamic pricing services, while the third made recommendations for the club's use of social media--some of which the club has already put into action.
At the end of term, members of the club's management team came to the college to receive the students' recommendations face to face.
"Knowing that our work was going to impact a real company made me even more committed to the project," said Lindsey Andress Steigleder '13.
"Learning how to work with a client, develop a plan, and present your findings is a great process, and one that I will carry with me throughout my professional career," said Mitchell Van Dyke '13.
MARCH 2013
What city wouldn't be pleased with around $1 million in extra earnings for the year? Thanks to a team of Oregon MBA students, the city of Salem, Oregon, enjoyed just such a financial bump.
It all started back in 2010, when students in associate professor of management Jennifer Howard-Grenville's Industrial Ecology course spent a term working with Salem as part of the University of Oregon's internationally regarded Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI).
One group of students from the college's Center for Sustainable Business Practices set out to examine whether Salem's Willow Lake Water Pollution Control Facility could begin using the excess capacity of its onsite biodigester--a unit that transforms waste sludge into methane gas and fertilizer for nonfood crops.
Could Willow Lake begin accepting sludge from area businesses and nearby towns? Using Salem-based biofuel manufacturer SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel as a test case, the students determined that the answer was yes.
Though ironing out the practical details took some time, the expanded service is now up and running. Sequential was just the first to begin bringing its sludge to Willow Lake. The facility now receives tipping fees for processing waste from Riverbend Landfill, Coffin Butte Landfill, City of Wilsonville, and the City of Silverton.
"We continue to add new revenue sources," said Greg Eyerly, Salem's wastewater treatment manager. "We are going to start bringing the City of Aurora's waste sludge here in mid-March, and we have three other sources on deck."
"The students' consulting work helped us start thinking differently about using the plant's excess capacity," said Courtney Knox Busch, project manager in Salem's department of urban development.
"The student involvement through SCI was really the catalyst," said Eyerly. "Not knowing what was possible, the students didn't know all the technical details of why we can't. Instead, they just asked the simple question 'why not?' If we keep asking the question 'why not?' we eventually run out of reasons of why we can't--and when we're out of 'can'ts' we are only left with 'cans.' It's just that simple."
View the students' original report and download articles about this and other SCI projects in The Financial Times and Alaska Airlines Magazine.
"Most people don't like change, but I thrive on it," said Anne Marie Levis, MBA '96, in her keynote speech at this year's Women in Business Gala.
As the president and creative director at brand design firm Funk/Levis & Associates and the current president of the UO Alumni Association, Levis knows a thing or two about embracing challenges.
After illustrating the benefits of risk-taking with examples drawn from her own and others' lives, Levis dared audience members to spend three minutes—right then and there—connecting with someone they hadn't met yet.
Seconds later, the Lillis atrium buzzed with excited conversation as undergraduate women connected with the female professionals at their own and other tables.
"It was great to have such an eclectic group of professionals, faculty, and students in attendance," said management instructor Tina Starr, who took over as the Women in Business club's faculty advisor this fall. "I’m very proud of the club members, especially the executive team members, who used their organization skills and teamwork to pull together a very impressive and professional event."
View photos from the event on Facebook.
The Red Duck Ketchup team flew south to Kentucky this February to compete in the University of Louisville's Cardinal Challenge investment competition.
Thanks to a snappy sixty-second presentation delivered by Shannon Oliver, MBA '13, the team walked off with first place—and a check for $1,500—in the contest's Fast Pitch competition.
The positive feedback the Red Ducks received from the competition's judges made this achievement even sweeter.
"People told us they don’t even like ketchup, and they liked ours. They bought the samples we had right out of our hands and handed us business cards imploring us to contact them because they own supermarkets on the East Coast," recalled Jessica Zutz, MBA '13.
Signs point to a bright (red) future for this startup venture, which also won first place in the Lundquist College's Graduate Venture Quest in December 2012. Read Zutz's complete account on our blog and visit the Red Duck Ketchup website.
The idea is simple--but the stakes are sky high.
Nyenrode Business Universiteit and the Lundquist College of Business have teamed up to offer a case competition with an extraordinary prize: a full-tuition scholarship to Nyenrode's Master of Science in Management program.
Business and accounting majors scheduled to graduate from the UO Lundquist College of Business no later than August 2013 can apply to lead a team. Each competitor will recruit two fellow students and work together tackling a challenging, internationally themed business case. The leader of the winning team will receive the Nyenrode scholarship and head to the Netherlands to begin the program this August.
The competition will take place on Friday, April 5. Judges include André Nijhof, director of Nyenrode's management program, and Albert van Servellen, an alumnus of both Nyenrode and the University of Oregon.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their talents while competing for a prize that will be truly life changing," said Collette Niland, assistant dean of the college's undergraduate programs. "We are thrilled to be working with Nyenrode on this remarkable project."
Download a flyer about the competition. Students: competition deadlines will be available soon, so check the events calendar and sign up for the college's weekly current events email to stay current.
"My UO business school experience has not only shaped my career, it’s shaped my entire life," said Mark Edlen '75, MBA '76.
As CEO and cofounder, along with Robert Gerding, of Gerding Edlen, a sustainable properties developer, Edlen has seen his company complete more than sixty green projects ($5 billion in real estate) throughout the western United States. Recently, they have expanded with projects in Boston and Chicago.
The firm is committed to attaining net-zero energy use in the next three years and is guided by a set of principles, The Principles of Place, that focus on creating vibrant and sustainable communities fully integrated with educational institutions, business, government, and the arts.
Edlen's work exemplifies the University of Oregon mission to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically. This creative and innovative approach has led the University of Oregon Alumni Association to choose him as recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2012.
Edlen credits his UO business school experience with teaching him the value of critical thinking and problem solving, as well as creating value for others and maximizing opportunities--all while striving to "leave your community a better place than you found it," he said.
The University of Oregon also offered and continues to offer students a unique balance between academia and the natural environment that all of us in Oregon enjoy and treasure, Edlen added.
Being a member of the first generation of his family to attend college awarded Edlen an acute appreciation of the value of affordable, high-quality education for young Oregonians.
That’s why he and his wife Ann established the Mark and Ann Edlen Scholarship Endowment Fund to support Lundquist College students.
"We both believe in the value of an affordable education, and we are delighted to be able to assist in providing others with the same opportunities that we enjoyed. After all, investing in today’s students is our greatest hope for a better tomorrow."
How do you land a coveted spot in one of the highly competitive summer internship programs run by the top investment banks? You could follow the example of Colin Bourdin and Daniel Greenfield: research thoroughly, work together, and send out literally hundreds of emails.
The two Lundquist College juniors got to know each other through the University of Oregon Investment Group--the student club whose members manage more than $1 million in live money.
Bourdin had spent the previous summer in Houston, Texas, interning in the wealth management division at Morgan Stanley. This experience had given him a taste of how competitive the internship search can be--and how quickly the process can move. Though it was only fall term, he was already setting the groundwork for the following summer's internship.
Inspired by Bourdin's example, Greenfield started a search of his own, with the aim of landing an internship in the high-tech sector at one of those top investment banks, which some refer to as the bulge bracket.
Meticulously researching potential contacts at their target firms, Bourdin and Greenfield reached out by email to request informational interviews. It was often slow going. "Only about four percent of the people I contacted got back to me," recalled Greenfield.
But their persistence paid off. After making their way through several rounds of interviews with various banks, both students received multiple invitations for "Superday" interviews--the lengthy and challenging final round of the recruiting process.
Offers soon followed. Greenfield will spend his summer in San Francisco, concentrating on the tech sector at Credit Suisse. Bourdin heads back to Houston to intern in the energy sector at UBS. Go Ducks!
It's all coming full circle for Townshend's Tea Company founder Matt Thomas '02.
It was just a little more than a decade ago that Thomas developed the idea for Townshend's Teahouse in a Lundquist College management course. In 2006, he opened Townshend's Alberta Street Teahouse in Portland. Next came a branch in Bend, followed by two more Portland locations.
Along the way, Thomas found time to launch Brew Dr. Kombucha--providing flavored versions of the fizzy, tea-based beverage in bottles or on tap.
This spring, the tea mogul will return to his roots, opening Eugene's first Townshend's Teahouse branch right next to the new Bijou Metro theater complex in the city's burgeoning downtown area.
"We are very excited to be opening up in this location," said Thomas.
The tea business has been good to Thomas. From 2011 to 2012, sales have grown by about 100 percent. “It’s one of those more rare stories where something you actually did in college becomes your life’s work,” Thomas said in an article in TheRegister-Guard.
Matt, we're glad to have you back.
FEBRUARY 2013
On Saturday, February 9, the University of Oregon will host TEDxUOregon, a conference inspired by the globally known, nonprofit TED conferences. Tapped as one of only seven speakers at the event, assistant professor of management Andrew Nelson will explore how mixing diverse disciplines can lead to knowledge breakthroughs and new methods of understanding. "One of the examples I'll give is the emerging field of acoustic archaeology, which resulted from conversations and collaboration between three diverse groups: archaeologists, electrical engineers, and musical composers," said Nelson, describing his presentation Radical Interdisciplinarity and Other Ingredients for Innovation. For those familiar with Nelson's creative approach to teaching the principles of innovation, his inclusion in the UO campus's debut TEDx event is an honor--but not entirely a surprise. "Andrew continuously pushes (and breaks) through barriers, thanks to his innately curious personality. He has an ability to engage an audience, appeal to audience members' varied interests, and ultimately influence others to be more curious in their own walks of life," said Katrina Galas, MBA '13, a member of the event's organizing committee. Visit the TEDxUoregon website to find out about attending a free live-stream viewing of the event in Eugene or Portland.
Sure, the sports marketing world moves fast--but not too fast for Oregon MBA students from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. In just twenty-four hours, a team of four MBA students put together a marketing campaign powerful enough to secure the University of Oregon's first-ever top-place win in the National Sports Forum's prestigious Case Cup Competition. Team members Matt Van Wyen, Gary Wang, Jennifer Swaim, and Christina Early created a proposal to help Chobani--the Greek-style yogurt company that was an official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012--expand its market to teens and men. Key elements of the campaign were a motto--"Chobani: Good Makes Great"--and a digital sales strategy that introduced the brand to consumers via an Olympic skiing and snowboarding game for mobile phones and tablet devices. In an interview with media at the forum, Van Wyen said that the sports marketing concentration offered by the Warsaw Center teaches students to "flesh out ideas that can be implemented right away" and always "stay true to the brand." And because the Oregon MBA offers plentiful experience working in teams, group dynamics were no obstacle. “We’re hard on each other in our group--not in a mean way. But we want to present the best ideas we can," Van Wyen said. "That was the hardest challenge," he added, "just figuring out what were the best ideas and what fit with Chobani." View an interview with Van Wyen in the above video.
Lundquist College students pursuing careers in accounting have a great new way to connect with top national and regional firms like Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG, Moss Adams, and PwC. Nearly every week during the winter and spring terms, a representative from one of these firms can be found holding informal "office hours" either at a table set up in the Lillis atrium or in the offices provided by LCB Career Services. For students, these sessions are a chance to get their questions answered and make a connection--in a relaxed setting. "Any time a student can get to know a recruiter in a casual way--instead of meeting them for the first time in an interview--I think it takes a lot of the pressure off," said Margaret Savoian, the administrative manager of the accounting department who organizes the events. Recruiters benefit too. As PwC's Campus Sourcing Manager Carrie Rees recalled, "A number of our recent full-time and intern new hires regularly stopped by my office hours last year in preparation for their recruiting experience in the fall." Jobseekers looking for an edge will want to note the PwC recruiter's experience: "The students' effort to stop by on a regular basis demonstrated that they were taking initiative, and that's something that differentiated them in the recruiting process," said Rees. Students: be sure to check the Lundquist College events calendar for upcoming sessions and sign up for the weekly current events email.
An avid triathlete since his days at the Lundquist College of Business, Athletepath founder and CEO David Embree '05 wanted an easy way to share race information online. "I cared about my friends' races as much as my own but had no way of seeing what they had done--and what they were doing next," said Embree, who was included in Portland Business Journal's Forty Under 40 list for 2013. Seeing a gap in the marketplace, Embree set to work conceptualizing an online tool that would be a win-win for race directors and athletes alike. After creating the prototype for Athletepath, Embree left his day job in October 2010 to pursue his vision full time. "I spent about six months doing the most intense networking I'd ever done in my life to find the right team and to find individual angel investors in the Portland and Oregon area," the entrepreneur recalled. Embree also landed a spot in Wieden+Kennedy's Portland Incubator Experiment, which enabled him to leverage the firm's marketing smarts while working alongside other Portland-based entrepreneurs. In 2012, Embree introduced Athletepath to races throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the iconic Hood to Coast Relay. Embree's goal for 2013 includes bringing the service to athletes and race directors throughout the United States. Find out more on the Athletepath website and in an article on Wired.com.
This January, second-year Oregon MBA students from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and Finance and Securities Analysis Center (FSAC) headed to New York to spend a week exploring real-life applications of their respective disciplines. While their Warsaw Center colleagues made the rounds at a roster of well-known sports organizations (ESPN, the National Basketball Association, the New York Rangers, and the New York Knicks were just a few of the stops), students from FSAC delved deep into the world of Wall Street and beyond. A tour of Business Wire from its president Gregg Castano offered new insights into how company information is transmitted. At Bank of America Merrill Lynch, four different managing directors offered insights into four very different sectors. Braving chill winds, the group headed north for an afternoon in Stamford, Connecticut, where they explored the opportunities available in the New York metro area's other financial district. On their second to last night in the city, the students got a taste of old New York when Phil Fischer, MBA '77, PhD '79, treated them to dinner at Delmonico's, a classic Wall Street-area dining establishment that dates from the nineteenth century. Read more about the trip in the Warsaw Center and FSAC blogs.
For recent graduate Famery Yang, participating in the Lundquist College's Peer Advising program was a satisfying way to share her knowledge with fellow undergraduates--including international students like herself. "I've gone from the point where I knew nothing about the system to now, where I can help other students get to know the requirements and figure out their schedule," Yang recalled in the above video. For Cameron Clement, another recent graduate, the satisfaction came from seeing the "weight lift off someone's shoulders" when he helped work out solutions for schedule conflicts and other issues. These are just a few of the reasons more than sixty-five business and accounting majors applied for the twelve available spots in the program last fall. Once they've completed the program's extensive training, peer advisors spend five hours a week in the undergraduate advising office, providing drop-in sessions to fellow students. This spring, the program's training techniques will serve as the model for the undergraduate advising office's soon-to-be-launched Duck Guides initiative, in which--similar to the UO Ambassador program--current undergraduates will introduce prospective students to the Lundquist College of Business. Hear from current and former peer advisors in the above video by business major Jonathan Thomas '13.
If you're looking to land a new position to launch the next stage of your career, nothing compares to getting advice from the folks who will be sitting on the other side of the interview table. This was the idea behind "Recruiter Coaching and Salary Trends," an MBA-focused event hosted by Lundquist College Career Services this January. Panelists included Cheryl Collins, director of human resources at Ninkasi Brewing Company, and two representatives from investment management firm Aequitas Capital: Lisa Rivet, director of human resources, and Adam Peterson, recruiting manager. During the question-and-answer session that kicked off the event, the trio of human resources experts shared what goes on behind the scenes when their companies seek to fill positions. "One of the biggest takeaways for me was how little time recruiters spend reading individual resumes. Although my resume remains ultra-important, I know it must also be easy to skim," said Chelsey Hughes, MBA '13. Later in the evening, Director of Career Services James Chang shared his insights about salary trends. With knowledge comes confidence. "Getting an inside look at the key pieces of the interview process gave me information I can use as I apply for future positions," said Tony Cresta, MBA '13.
Have you mentored or worked with any of our students over the past few years? If so, you're likely well aware of the strengths our graduate and undergraduate students bring to the workplace. To show off the amazing experiential learning, networking, and career opportunities available through the Lundquist College's network, we aim to use social media to connect with all the companies and organizations that have worked with our students over the years. The goal of this maneuver is to strengthen our bond with you and increase communication with your organization. We have already begun this outreach effort and ask you or your business to "like" the Facebook pages of the Lundquist College of Business and the Oregon MBA. And please also follow our programs on Twitter: @UOBusiness and @OregonMBA. We will be pleased to return the favor and "like" and follow you back. It will help us stay up to date on all the activities of our alumni and friends so that we may share your company's news more widely.
JANUARY 2013
It's no secret that the University of Oregon's successful sports teams enable the school to stand out on the national stage. But not everyone knows that the world-class education available at the Lundquist College of Business helps persuade many student-athletes to attend the UO in the first place. In the past year alone, faculty members associated with the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center have introduced the college and its programs to literally hundreds of visiting high-school athletes and their parents. "The Warsaw Center is a big draw for us and some of our most high-profile student-athletes are business majors," said Maurica Powell, assistant coach for men and women's track and field. Volleyball star Alaina Bergsma--recent recipient of the Honda Sports Award for volleyball among many other honors--is one of many who acknowledges the Warsaw Center's influence on her decision to attend the UO. "I knew I could study what I loved and earn a valuable degree while doing it," Bergsma recalled. Though a potential student's interest may first be sparked by the Warsaw Center's offerings, this isn't always where he or she ends up. "At last count, we had sixty-five student-athletes in the business school," said Warsaw Center managing director Paul Swangard. This number includes students in the finance and entrepreneurship tracks, as well as those in the Warsaw Center. "We don't view ourselves as the only place that students athletes can come to study in the business school, but we think we are a good window for them to start thinking about the business school," explained Swangard.
When it comes to "return on innovation"--the rate at which research spending generates revenue--it looks like another banner year for the University of Oregon. Thanks to an 8.9 percent return for the fiscal year, the university is poised to retain its status from the previous year, numbering among the nation's top twenty universities for this metric. All told, the UO collected $7.9 million in the past year from licensing university-developed technologies, while its spinout companies generated $35.75 million in revenue during the 2011-12 academic year and employed 250 workers. That's good news for the UO--and for the state's economy, too. Here at the Lundquist College of Business, we're proud that so many of these success stories involve our faculty members and alums: Technology Entrepreneurship Program (TEP) advisor and instructor Allan Cochrane is CEO of Cascade Prodrug, a biotech company developing new treatments for cancer; former TEP advisor Don Upson is a cofounder of QE Chemicals, a startup that's creating new chemical building blocks; R. Jon Hofmeister, MBA '05, founded Perpetua Power Source Technologies, the developer of advanced renewable energy solutions; and Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship program manager Nathan Lillegard, MBA '06, was the cofounder and CEO of Floragenex, the genomics service provider. View the full list of companies spun off from University of Oregon technologies.
Students from our Master of Accounting (MAcc) program headed to the Netherlands for a ten-day study tour this past December. Home base for the trip was the campus of Nyenrode Business University, the alma mater of none other than the Lundquist College's Dean Kees de Kluyver, who kicked off the students' visit with an overview of Nyenrode history and a talk on corporate governance. The week's theme was "From Theory to Practice," and each day focused on a different topic: auditors, enforcement, investor relations, sustainability reporting, and governance. For participants, this was a remarkable opportunity to get an insider's look at Dutch and international corporations, meet high-level European executives, and learn how accounting is practiced in a different part of the world. Though their days were rigorous, the students still managed to squeeze in some sightseeing. Highlights included a climb up the 112-meter tall Dom Tower, a canal-tour of Utrecht, and a "walking dinner" in Amsterdam--a three-course meal in which each course was served in a different restaurant. Read about all these adventures on the new MAcc blog.
Business major Sadia Ritu may still be in school, but she's already giving back to the community around her--by visiting Eugene-area schools and senior centers as a cultural ambassador through the University of Oregon's International Cultural Service Program and working at the UO's American English Institute helping international students like herself get oriented to campus life. Ritu left her home in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2009 to come to Bandon, Oregon, as a high-school exchange student. Soon after her arrival, she toured the University of Oregon campus and vowed to become a Duck. Thanks to a combination of her own persistence and timely help from friends and mentors she's met along the way, Ritu enrolled in the UO in 2011. Between work, school, and extracurricular activities, Ritu stays plenty busy. She DJs at UO radio station KWVA, is a volunteer member recruiter at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and won a spot in the Lundquist College's prestigious University of Oregon Investment Group this fall. For four hours each week, she can also be found working behind the reception desk in the undergraduate advising office. When asked how she handles her jam-packed schedule, Ritu explained, "I think it's just loving what you do. I don't think of it as work." Sadia, we're glad to have you here.
The Lundquist College of Business has honored associate professor of management Jennifer Howard-Grenville as the 2013 Thomas C. Stewart Distinguished Professor. A two-time winner of the James R. Reinmuth MBA Teaching Excellence Award, Howard-Grenville is also a highly prolific author and coauthor, having published seven articles in refereed journals since 2010 and three books since 2000. These are not the only areas where Howard-Grenville's work stands out. Each year, students in her industrial ecology course provide consulting services to local and regional nonprofits, including a 2010 project in Salem, Oregon, that was part of the University of Oregon's nationally recognized Sustainable Cities Initiative. Her nomination--from fellow management faculty Alan Meyer and Michael Russo, as well as department head James Terborg--sums up Howard-Grenville’s approach: "Jen’s engine (a hybrid, of course) is hitting on all cylinders now, and her record clearly meets the lofty goals of the Stewart Award." And she continues to drive forward new ideas and knowledge. Currently on Howard-Grenville's desk are two collaborative research projects examining the ways in which companies and other organizations are adopting more sustainable practices. “My work is about how people make change,” Howard-Grenville said. “Within organizations, occupations, and communities, usually around something they care deeply about, like the environment.” Read more about Howard-Grenville.
At the Lundquist College of Business, experiential learning is at the heart of everything we do. Right from the get-go, students entering the Oregon MBA get acquainted with this core value by spending their first fall term immersed in consulting projects for a real-life client. This year's client was CBT Nuggets, a company that creates online videos for information technology training. The MBA students had their choice of three projects to work on: a proposal for the company's international expansion, recommendations for a new pricing model, and developing a social media strategy. Whitney Alexander, John Durbin, Matt Fanelli, and Michael Thompson were members of one of the two teams selected to present their recommendations to CBT Nuggets. Soon after their presentation, the team members learned that CBT Nuggets had already implemented one of their ideas--an internal Facebook page where staffers could develop content that would eventually be posted on their public page. "I think the greatest thing was that they really dug in and understood our company culture," said Monica Sellers, the CBT Nuggets social media specialist who worked with the students. Read more about the project on our blog.
"We're really working at that intersection of entrepreneurship and sustainable business," said Micah Elconin, MBA '12. "I work at an innovative economic development corporation and am building a program that supports food entrepreneurs, which in turn strengthens our local food system." Elconin was describing the synergies taking place at Sprout!--the regional food hub recently launched by Oregon nonprofit NEDCO--where he is the program's supervisor. Located in a former church in downtown Springfield, Oregon, Sprout! is currently home to Marketplace@Sprout!, a year-round indoor farmers' market. Later this month two additional components to this program will spring up: Kitchen@Sprout!, a shared-use commercial kitchen; and Hatch@Sprout!, a business incubator providing resources and consulting to food-related startups. The guiding vision behind all these projects is to use a burgeoning local food economy to help grow to a healthy community. For Elconin, who landed the job through connections rooted in his time in the Oregon MBA, his new role grafts together his business education and his earlier professional experience. "I came into the program with a background as a private chef, and I had my own small business," recalled Elconin. "I wasn't sure where the Oregon MBA would take me, but I feel like it took me somewhere really special."
DECEMBER 2012
Michael Crooke is: A) former CEO of Patagonia, Yakima, and Revolution Living (parent company of Flexcar); B) a former Navy SEAL; C) the University of Oregon's first Professor of Practice; D) helping the Lundquist College's new Business Innovation Institute redefine the space where entrepreneurship and sustainability intersect. The answer is all of the above. Last month, we welcomed Crooke as the first Avamere Professor of Practice, a nontenured professorship made possible through a generous private gift to the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, which is part of the college's new Business Innovation Institute. In this new role, Crooke will serve as an advisor and mentor to student venture teams, and create and teach a capstone course integrating multiple traditional MBA disciplines of entrepreneurship, finance, and operations with social and resource stewardship considerations. "We are thrilled to make such a high-profile appointment with our first Avamere Professor of Practice," said Lundquist College of Business Dean Kees de Kluyver. "Michael will not only provide our students with direct high-level industry insights and expertise, but he will also elevate the profile of the college and our growing entrepreneurship and sustainable business programs." The UO has a long tradition of bringing in experienced professionals to interact with students, but the Professor of Practice classification did not exist until this year. In an effort led by de Kluyver, the UO undertook the detailed process of formalizing the position at the state level, so that all schools in the Oregon University System may take advantage of this dynamic new approach to learning. Read more about Crooke and the UO's new Professor of Practice classification.
The November morning may have been cold and damp, but team spirit--not to mention pure adrenaline--did a good job of warming the crowd gathered to watch Lee Corso and the gang broadcast ESPN College GameDay from the University of Oregon's Memorial Quad. Starting in the predawn darkness, fans showed off their handmade signs while cheerleaders provided high-voltage dazzle. As the skies lightened, the University of Oregon marching band greeted the Duck and his motorcycle. On the ESPN set, five-year-old Braden Pape managed to outdo his 2011 GameDay debut by taking the stage as the show's guest picker. This is the second year in a row that the Lillis Business Complex has served as the show's backdrop, so it looks like the start of a great new tradition--one that we here at the Lundquist College can definitely get behind.
How does Nike embody the word "ignite?" This was the question senior instructor of sports business Whitney Wagoner posed to members of the Warsaw Sport Business Club (WSBC), the club she advises. Ambition kindled, eight WSBC-ers took up the challenge, each delivering an original five-minute presentation to visitors from Nike's summer internship talent acquisition team of Wendy Scott and Zachary Taylor '08, himself an alum of the college's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. At stake was a $50.00 Nike gift card, plus the chance to gain the respect of their peers and show their passion to--and get one-on-one feedback from--their dream employer's hiring team. Presentations impressed the judges with their visuals and content, and one was delivered as a rhyming monologue. The competition's winner was Corrine Cooley '14, whose presentation included her own hand-painted versions of the Nike Woman ads. Download Cooley's slides and the text of her talk.
Students seeking direct routes to their dream careers received expert navigation tips from experienced professionals at this October's Career Paths panel series, the signature fall event of the Lundquist College Career Services office. Each of the three evenings highlighted a specific range of career concentrations and featured panels of young professionals--often UO alums--drawn from Career Services' extensive network. The first day's panelists were up-and-coming executives from Nike, Adidas, Daimler, and Yahoo, who discussed their experiences breaking into the fields of marketing and sports business. On day two, representatives from Levi Straus & Co., New York Life, Moss-Adams, and Umpqua Bank fielded questions from finance and accounting students. Information systems and operation management, entrepreneurship, and business management were the final day's topics, when UO alumni from CPUsage, Ferguson, Ecova, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Oracle took center stage. "All of the panelists were so down-to-earth and engaging, you could really tell that they wanted to help students get a better idea of what is waiting for us after college," said business major Andrea Brown '14, whose postgraduation goal is to land a job in sports marketing. Though Career Paths is the Career Services office's signature event for the term, it's just one of many opportunities our students had to network with representatives from high-profile companies this term. View a full list of companies that have come to campus this fall and download the Career Paths program.
Adidas
Apercen Partners
Cambia
Columbia Distributing
CPUsage
Daimler Trucks North America
Deloitte
Ecova
Ernst & Young
Ferguson
Frank, Rimerman, & Co.
Geffen Mesher
Google | Grant Thornton
Intel
Isler CPA
Jones & Roth
Kernutt Stokes
KPMG
Levi Strauss & Co.
Moss Adams
New York Life
Nike
Novogradac & Co.
Oracle
Perkins & Co. P.C. | PwC
Sherwin-Williams
State of Alaska Audits Division
Tektronix
Umpqua Bank
US Bank
Waddell & Reed
Wieden + Kennedy
Verizon Wireless
Yahoo!
Zones |
"When was the last time you were excited about ketchup?" asked Shannon Oliver, MBA '13, in a video shown to the judges of the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE)'s annual graduate-level Venture Quest Investment Competition. Oliver and three other MBA candidates--Karen Bonner, Kurt Barajas, and Jessica Zutz--aim to bring new spice to the familiar condiment via their Red Duck line of artisanal ketchups. Originally cooked up as a project for this fall's New Venture Planning course--co-taught by Al Cochrane and LCE program manager Nathan Lillegard--three flavors of the spicy sauce were introduced to faculty and staff in an informal focus group session a few days prior to the competition. During its Venture Quest presentation, the team also offered samples--complete with piping hot french fries to dab up the ketchup samples--to the judges' panel. Clearly wowed, the judges named Red Duck Ketchup the competition's winning entry and awarded the team the top place in the elevator pitch competition as well. If all goes according to plan, this victory is just the start. The Red Duck team plans to take their product through the college's entire Venture Launch Pathway--and beyond. A fourth ketchup flavor is scheduled to take flight in 2014. Go (Red) Ducks!
They came from as far away as China, New York, and Chicago. All told, a grand total of seventy-five guests--spanning Lundquist College graduating classes 2000 through 2012--made the trip to attend the first-ever reunion of the University of Oregon Investment Group (UOIG). Founded by a trio of undergraduates in the late 1990s and overseen in its early days by associate professor of finance John Chalmers, one of the event's organizers, UOIG offers members the opportunity to manage live money--currently more than $800,000. Reunion festivities kicked off with a Friday evening tour of the wine production facilities at King Estate Vineyards, followed by a dinner where UOIG alums reconnected with one another and mingled with current members and a handful of the group's longtime supporters. Guests also had the opportunity to attend the Oregon Ducks v. Colorado Buffaloes football game the following Saturday. "The reunion was a fantastic opportunity to network with former members and see how the UOIG experience can advance our future careers in finance," said Owen Hyde '13, the club's current director of operations. A second reunion is slated to take place in 2016, noted assistant professor of finance Stephen McKeon '00, a member of the UOIG's first cohort who returned to the college to teach in 2011.
Providing sound advice on the complex issues surrounding a company's recent acquisition was all in a few days' work for the Lundquist College students who took part in this year's PricewaterhouseCooper xACT case competition. Though the majority of participants are either current or aspiring accounting majors, the competition offers value to a wide range of business students. "I hope to go into finance, so understanding accounting information will be really, really useful in for my future career," said sophomore David Spencer, a prebusiness major and member of The Closers, the competition's winning team. The Lundquist College of Business is the only Oregon school to participate in this year's competition, and a video of The Closers presentation has been entered in the national competition among eight-three other colleges and universities. "Events like these define the kind of passion that makes our students stand out," said senior accounting instructor Joel Sneed, who has facilitated the event since its inception in 2003. Watch the above video of The Closers' winning presentation.
NOVEMBER 2012
This October, Collette Niland joined the Lundquist College of Business as the assistant dean of undergraduate programs. Niland--who earned her PhD in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison--comes to us from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was assistant dean for undergraduate affairs at the college of business and founder of the school's Social Entrepreneurship Institute. When asked about her vision for the Lundquist College, Niland responded, "The kind of leaders we develop is really important--not just for the future course of the business world, but for the future course of the United States and the globe." Niland's breadth of vision complements her in-depth administrative skills. With more than twenty years of experience in undergraduate affairs, Niland is well equipped to address what she describes as the "brass tacks" of her position. This includes the complex logistics that enable the college to provide an educational experience of the highest quality to its undergraduate population--the University of Oregon's single largest group of students. View Niland's profile on our website.
"When we started, no one bought TVs at WalMart," Vizio founder and CEO William Wang recalled, in a Q&A session with Lundquist College students and faculty this October. Radically reshaping the shopping landscape is just one of the ways that Wang's ten-year-old company has changed the world of consumer electronics. During a discussion moderated by Dean Kees de Kluyver, Wang described the "perfect storm" that helped drive his company's success and covered some of the other game-changers Vizio pioneered. These include micron-thin profit margins and a manufacturing strategy based on sourcing components from outside producers, rather than building them in-house. Earlier in the day, MBA students had the chance to benefit from Wang's insights, when the visionary entrepreneur spoke to Doug Wilson's marketing strategy class. "The opportunity to interact with someone like William Wang provides an incomparable experience for our undergraduate and graduate-level students," said Wilson. View a Facebook photo album of Wang's visit and watch a video of the Q&A session.
Assistant professor of finance Stephen McKeon is one of two cowinners of the Financial Research Association's 2012 Michael J. Barclay Award for the best solo-authored paper by a young scholar. The award is fiercely competitive and in some years the committee does not name a winner at all. McKeon's winning paper, "Manager-Initiated versus Investor-Initiated Equity Issuances," examines the influence of employee stock options on corporate financing. "My research documents that firms raise more money through stock issuances to employees than all initial public offerings combined," said McKeon. Coverage of McKeon's previous study on the risk-taking behavior of CEOs who fly private planes has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and SmartMoney, among other publications. McKeon--who received his bachelor's degree from the Lundquist College in 2000--returned to teach here in September 2011. Read more about McKeon's study in UO Research, download a copy of his paper, and learn more about the Barclay Award.
When Pam Birkel, MBA '13, offered her services to TrackTown12--organizers of last summer's Olympic Trials at Hayward Field--she figured she'd land a spot as a recycling volunteer. Instead, she played a key role helping the event gain gold-level sustainability certification from the Council for Responsible Sport (ReSport), the national nonprofit advancing responsibly produced sports events. And because the Olympic Trials was the first multiday competition to be evaluated by ReSport, Birkel's work also helped set a benchmark for future multiday events throughout the nation. It all started when associate professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville introduced Birkel to Ethan Nelson, chair of TrackTown12's sustainability committee. Birkel, a Center for Sustainable Business Practices student, began a spring term independent study project that lay the groundwork for what became her summer job: documenting the event's many green activities and writing up the report submitted to ReSport. Though not every moment was glamorous--"I photographed every single bathroom in Hayward Field," Birkel recalled--the results were well worth the effort. Exceeding the already high standard set by the event in 2008, this year's trials achieved significant reduction in waste and emissions, while ensuring universal accessibility for all visitors. View a video about TrackTown12's sustainability work, read an article in Sustainable Business Oregon, and download the report.
"I have not seen such a group of energized, talented, and hungry students in my thirty-year business career. There is something special going on in Eugene." said visiting executive Lawrence Jackson, former president and CEO of procurement for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., after spending the day at the Lundquist College of Business. In a presentation to undergraduates, faculty, and staff, Jackson touched on many topics: why coming from an underrepresented minority group can be advantage in today's global business world; what it means to stay true to one's roots while reaching for new goals; and how lifelong professional bonds can be forged by taking on what Jackson calls "foxhole" assignments--the tough jobs in less desirable locations. Many of his listeners were members of the college's Building Business Leaders cohort and its sibling organization, the CEO Network--initiatives designed to enable students of color to pursue business and professional success. For business major Michael Martinez, Jackson's story served to strengthen and confirm his own ambitions. "Hearing Lawrence gave me confidence--if I ever doubt myself--that I can do it," said Martinez. View Jackson and students in a Facebook photo album.
Judy Sheldon, MBA '11, spent three weeks in September hosting China's Hongxia Wei as part of the Global Sports Mentoring Program--a newly launched collaboration between the U.S. Department of State and espnW. The program's goal is to connect international and American women to build capacity for sports programs that empower women and girls worldwide. Of the seventeen participating organizations, the University of Oregon was the only academic institution invited to take part. Thanks to her dual positions as director of the UO Athletics Department's O Heroes initiative and executive programs coordinator at the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, Sheldon was uniquely situated to share her knowledge with Wei, who works as director of law and regulation at China's Ministry of Sport. Along with meeting representatives from key departments at the UO, the pair traveled to Portland where they met with Nike and USA Gymnastics--and even had a chance to meet gold medalist Gabby Douglas. Sheldon credits her experience in the Oregon MBA's Engaging Asia initiative for providing a solid foundation for her cross-cultural mentoring experience: "I was definitely better equipped to help Hongxia develop and implement a program that would work in her home country," said Sheldon. Read an interview with Sheldon on the UO Business Blog, find out more about the program, and watch a video.
They came. They saw. They staged a shave-off in the Lillis atrium to kick-start the University of Oregon's third annual Movember campaign. Surrounded by an enthusiastic audience of MBA students, faculty, and staff, Lundquist College of Business Dean Kees de Kluyver and assistant deans Dave Boush and Sergio Koreisha pared away a combined total of sixty years of mustache. An international movement created to raise awareness of men's health issues, Movember first came to the University of Oregon campus in 2010, when JJ Owen, MBA '11, organized a month of mustache growing at the college. The movement quickly spread to other colleges and schools on campus. Owen now works full time for Movember, heading up the nonprofit's community, corporate, and collegiate efforts across the U.S. Led by Mitzi Ing, MBA '13, and Dylan Packebush, MBA '13, this year's Movemberists aim to outdo the $9,876.00 raised by the 2011 MBA team. Read about the festivities on our blog, view the Oregon MBA Movember page, and track the sprouting 'staches via weekly Facebook updates.
When Lundquist College of Business undergraduate Brittany Lundberg set out for her first Bend Venture Conference last year, she was "intrigued, but not quite sure what it was." When she left a day and a half later, her mind was made up: "I knew without a doubt I wanted to be an entrepreneur." This year, Lundberg--now the marketing officer of the college's Entrepreneurship Club--headed back to Bend with nine of her fellow club members to watch aspiring startups compete for $265,000 in seed money. Six Oregon MBA students affiliated with the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship also attended the conference. Activities included a networking reception, presentations by past competition winners, and a keynote speech by Daymond John, the Shark Tank judge and creator of the FUBU clothing line. "Our club and this trip are open to all majors," said Lundberg. "I encourage anyone to join us." Read blog posts about the Bend Venture Conference.
OCTOBER 2012
At the Lundquist College of Business, innovation has been a core value from our very earliest days. Most recently, this pioneering instinct has led to the creation of the Business Innovation Institute, the new framework for the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) and the Center for Sustainable Business Practices (CSBP). While each center remains a distinct entity, their alignment under the Business Innovation Institute will streamline operations, enabling both centers to strengthen connections to industry and to facilitate greater opportunities for student learning and faculty research. John Hull, who joined the college in August, is the institute's managing director and will serve as the main point of contact for organizations and individuals wishing to partner with the centers. CSBP and LCE's new program managers--Laura Strohm and Nathan Lillegard, respectively--will both report to Hull. Strohm and Lillegard will teach courses and also oversee MBA- and undergraduate-level experiential learning projects associated with their centers. With its pioneering mission and dynamic leadership, the Business Innovation Institute aims to expand the notion of innovation beyond new products to creating entirely new business models, reinventing relationships with suppliers and customers, and redefining the very nature of business success. "Oregon is on the cutting edge here," said Hull, "and with the creation of the Business Innovation Institute, the Lundquist College of Business has poised itself at the forefront of educating the professional work force that companies will need to outperform in a new competitive landscape." Read more about Hull, Lillegard and Strohm below and find out more about the Business Innovation Institute.
| John Hull,Managing Director, Business Innovation Institute
John Hull comes to the college from Nike, Inc., where he served as the first partner at its Sustainable Business and Innovation Lab. Hull brings with him ten years of experience in venture capital as well as a multiyear post directing a $500 million corporate strategic equity fund for Intel. |
 | Nathan Lillegard, Program Manager, Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship
Nathan Lillegard, MBA '06, is a graduate of the program he now manages. Lillegard cofounded FloraGenex, a research services organization focused on genomics in all plant and animal species that got its start with the Technology Entrepreneurship Program. |
 | Laura Strohm,Program Manager, Center for Sustainable Business Practices
Laura Strohm joins us from Monterey, California, where she was owner and principal of Strohm Sustainability Consulting. Strohm also served as executive director at The Sustainability Academy, a nonprofit organization that teaches sustainable business practices. She has previously held faculty positions at Indiana University and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. |
The idea of eco-friendly RVs may sound like a contradiction in terms, but for associate professor of management Anne Parmigiani, the motorhome industry's recent efforts to go green proved to be a fruitful setting for investigating why some firms innovate differently than others. Parmigiani and Jennifer Irwin, PhD '12, (now assistant professor of management at Louisiana State University) began studying RV manufacturers in fall 2008, when the harsh economic climate forced the firms to find new ways to differentiate their products. Some firms relied on component-based innovation, upgrading existing RV models with greener elements. Others opted for systemic innovation and created new, more environmentally friendly RVs from the ground up. As they report in a paper submitted for publication to the Journal of Operations Management, the strength of each company's relationships with its suppliers and customers determined the approach the company took. Download an abstract of the paper.
For the seventh year running, the college's Engaging Asia initiative provided a group of second-year Oregon MBA students with the opportunity to explore the sights, sounds, and business practices of another continent. The first stop on the itinerary was Shanghai, where a visit to the Wieden+Kennedy office and a zippy bus ride (yes, a bus ride) around the city's Formula 1 racetrack were among the many activities. A ride on the bullet train took the group to Beijing for a jam-packed schedule of company meetings and factory tours, as well as a visit to the Great Wall. As their peers from the college's other centers headed off to Hong Kong, students affiliated with the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center set their course for Singapore--a brand new destination for the Engaging Asia program. Thanks to their center's recently forged relationship with the Singapore Sports Council, the Warsaw contingent had a unique opportunity for an up-close look at the country's efforts to transform itself into a major sports destination for all of Asia. "We learned how Singapore's constant growth and desire for change make it a force to be reckoned with," said Ameer Abdelaaty, MBA '13. Read the Engaging Asia 2012 blog.
If you've followed the recent legal skirmishes between Apple and Samsung, you're well aware that intellectual property plays a key role in business innovation. What you may not know is that one of the world's foremost authorities in patent issues--associate professor of management Rosemarie Ziedonis--teaches and researches right here at the Lundquist College of Business. Over the years, the patent powerhouse has consulted with organizations as diverse as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, and National Academies of Science. In September 2012, Ziedonis traveled to Belgium to brief European Union officials on "patent thickets"--overlapping intellectual property rights that a company must wade through in order to make improvements and innovations. What's her take on the Apple-Samsung battles? “The smartphone battle raises questions on whether patents stimulate or stifle innovative activity in key sectors the economy,” said Ziedonis. “For technology producers and users alike, the financial consequences are large and worth fighting for.” Find out more about Ziedonis.
Corporate finance, initial public offerings, venture capital, processes of organizational renewal, new product development, and consumer memory--this is just a small sampling of the range of expertise offered by the five faculty members who started at the Lundquist College of Business this fall. Three of the new hires join our finance department, one goes to the marketing department, and the other to the management department. We also celebrate the promotion of former adjunct instructor Marie Mayes, who has moved into a career-track position as Instructor of Marketing. Meet the new faculty members below.
| Zhi (Jay) Wang, Assistant Professor of Finance
Degrees: PhD (finance), University of Michigan; PhD (economics), Iowa State University
Teaching and Research Interests: Investments, corporate finance
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| Kathryn Mercurio, Assistant Professor of Marketing; Director, Business Research Institute
Degree: PhD, University of Washington
Research Interests: Consumer memory, consumer social identity, implicit cognition
Teaching Interests: Principles of marketing, brand management, consumer behavior, advertising and promotion management, new product development, marketing strategy
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| Xiaoding Liu, Assistant Professor of Finance
Degree: PhD, University of Florida
Teaching Interests: Corporate finance
Research Interests: IPO, corporate finance, corporate governance
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| Vineet Bhagwat, Assistant Professor of Finance
Degree: PhD, Northwestern University
Teaching interests: Corporate finance
Research interests: Venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, empirical corporate finance
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| Reut Livne-Tarandach, Assistant Professor of Management
Degree: PhD Candidate, Boston College
Research Interests: Processes of renewal within and of organizations in the contexts of higher education, health care, creative industries
Teaching Interests: Management
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| Marie Mayes, Instructor of Marketing
Degree: MBA, Washington State University
Teaching Interests: Business strategy, marketing, entrepreneurship
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Senior instructor of finance Deb Bauer is the new director of the Lundquist College of Business Honors Program. The cohort-based two-year program admits only thirty-five undergraduate business majors each year. Bauer, who earned her master's degree in finance at the Lundquist College and has taught here since 2001, relishes her new role. "We have a great program with a great curriculum in place," said Bauer. "The cohort model provides students with both the support and the challenges they need to excel." Looking ahead, Bauer aims to provide students with learning opportunities outside of the classroom and grow alumni engagement with the program. An avid bicyclist who plans to race cyclocross this fall, Bauer shares with her students the inspiration she draws from her sport: "Explore new things, say 'yes' to the challenging opportunities, have fun, and--when it seems really hard--just keep pedaling."
Students in Jennifer Howard-Grenville’s industrial ecology course got plenty of hands-on experience helping develop solutions for real-life issues in the city of Salem. The course was part of UO’s Sustainable Cities Initiative, a program partnering students from business, architecture and other disciplines to promote local green development. Students worked with three organizations--Salem’s wastewater treatment plant; Norpac, the regional food processor; and Sequential Pacific Biofuels, the bio-diesel manufacturer--all of which plan to use elements of the students’ research going forward. “To me, the biggest part of the learning is how complex each situation is,” summed up Howard-Grenville. “That’s one of the benefits--to see how messy the real world is.” Read More.